CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 5, 2011 Hastings Direct Liz Latter has been appointed as head of insurer development at the firm. She will work with Adrian Parry, head of Hastings’ panel development activities for the last two years, who will step back from his full-time commitments in early 2012 to pursue other commitments, but will continue to support the business. Latter [...]
Banks hit by S&P downgrade November 30, 2011 The FTSE was dragged down this morning as Standard and Poor’s downgraded 15 banks including Barclays and HSBC while miners were hit by lower copper prices. The S&P cut, on banks mostly in Europe and the United States, hit the sector which has already taken a battering from the Eurozone debt crisis. Meanwhile Eurozone ministers [...]
Banks hit by S&P downgrade November 30, 2011 The FTSE was dragged down this morning as Standard and Poor’s downgraded 15 banks including Barclays and HSBC while miners were hit by lower copper prices. The S&P cut, on banks mostly in Europe and the United States, hit the sector which has already taken a battering from the Eurozone debt crisis. Meanwhile Eurozone ministers [...]
LORD MAYOR STEPS UP SECURITY FOR AMBASSADORS’ RECEPTIONS November 24, 2011 IT HAD to be the Queen. “No-one else has that level of police presence,” said one City observer when he noted a convoy of four police motorbikes and two impressive cars making its way towards the Walbrook Building in stately fashion. But no – it was Lord Mayor David Wootton, who had stepped up his [...]
Lloyds is harnessing the 2012 Games as a transformational opportunity October 18, 2011 COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 282 DAYS TO GO Sally Hancock sets out why Lloyds Banking Group became a partner of the 2012 Olympics Q. What was your brand’s primary reason for being involved with the Games? A. We became the first National Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for [...]
Treasury looking to LSE to boost lending to small firms October 30, 2011 BOOSTING access to debt markets and forcing state-owned banks to lend to smaller firms are among plans being discussed by the Treasury to increase lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One idea is to use the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) order book for retail bonds (ORB) market, allowing smaller debt issuances with lower minimum [...]
CITY VIEWS: WILL RETAILERS SEE LOWER SALES THIS CHRISTMAS? November 7, 2011 PAUL CLAYTON | JRP UNDERWRITING “There must be a lot of pressure on people this Christmas, but personally this won’t affect what I buy. There is no doubt the retail industry is suffering, though.” PETER GODFREY | LLOYD’S OF LONDON “People will always try to find spare cash over Christmas, but with the state the [...]
Banking reform should rule out more bailouts December 21, 2011 THE rescue of Northern Rock, and the subsequent injections of taxpayers’ money into RBS and the forced merger of HBOS and Lloyds, stemmed from a clear failure of Ed Balls and Labour’s tripartite regulatory structure for financial services. And when a Liberal Democrat trade secretary and a Conservative chancellor came together to try to agree [...]
Commodities drag FTSE 100 down as euphoria wears off December 1, 2011 THE UK’s leading share index closed lower yesterday, led by weaker commodity prices, as earlier gains were reversed in tandem with a weaker showing on Wall Street as Wednesday’s boost from central bank intervention moves proved short-lived. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 16.08 points or 0.3 per cent at 5,489.34, just [...]
DO YOU FIND YOU ARE SHOPPING MORE ONLINE? November 2, 2011 MARK JAY | MARSH “Yes, because it is convenient and easy. You can browse for better deals and find the exact products you are looking for.” ALAN WALSH | LLOYD’S OF LONDON “I didn’t two years ago – I still don’t now. But my wife does now more than she used to. She says you [...]